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Spencer’s Needs: Spencer needs to keep relatively calm in order to not have an asthma attack. Spencer needs a way to be motivated to learn new skills. Spencer needs more supports in academics as his grades are slipping indicating what is being provided is not working for learning.
Spencer’s Wants: Going to school versus staying at home to school. Attending all is classes in the classroom. Using a specific game like Mine Craft for Learning as there may be other options that could be just as motivating for him to learn.
More information needed: More information about specific stressors and triggers would be helpful. Also, some information about what has been tried, what worked, what didn’t as far as scaffolding school assignments. I would be interested to know about supports within the school setting and what they look like (does he have a para). I would love to hear about when Spencer is successful in learning and what that looks like. Some background on testing scores, observations of behaviors and triggers and information about home life would also be helpful.I like how you mentioned the baseline of skills which helped me see the picture of this child a bit more and their needs. I like following direction goals because it works on receptive communication (understanding basic concepts) and we ask children to follow so many directions throughout their school experience.
ChristinePossible Goal:
“Given a story book with pictures describing the actions, Child will re-tell the story using the starter words First, Then and Finally given those words written out as visual prompts 8/10 times accurately over two sessions.”Scoring:
1. Beginning and an End? Seen/Heard?
Yes. The child will be heard. Target behavior being “Retell”
2. Measure over time?
Yes. Measurement being 8/10 times over two sessions.
3. Need target behavior to participate in all/most activities?
Arguably yes. Children need to be able to re-tell stories and events for social enjoyment, relaying information and must have a good understanding of the beginning, middle and end of a story in order to understand beginning story writing assignments.
4. Need behavior to complete most daily activites?
No. Some daily activities will not require telling a story or giving information. However, the largest part of social interactions includes being able to share information.
5. Does the target behavior represent a general concept or class of responses?
Yes. Re-telling a story is related to expressive communication, social interactions, memory and ability, picking out key facts and being able to summarize learned information.
6. Can the target behavior be generalized across a variety of settings?
Not really. It’s very specific even down to the type of activity and the type of pictures to use. It does not allow for a large variety of materials. It can be done in a variety of location settings however it is specific about being used within a structured activity. The materials can be changed (you can use different picture/books) however, the guidelines for even the pictures are specific.
7. Can the target behavior be taught across daily activities?
Perhaps. But, only if they are structured activities that are set up for the individual based on their skill level and the specific guidelines noted. You could practice parts of the goal during bedtime reading routines, classroom story time etc however getting ten trials would not be logical within less structured activities/routines.
8. Can the target behavior be taught/addressed by a variety of team members?
Yes. This was written as a SLP goal. However, anyone could address retelling of a story under these guidelines. I used the First, Then and Finally structure in the goal because I have seen several teachers use this structure successfully for teaching beginning writing skills and thought it would be a good way to collaborate esp if the teacher is using this structure in the classroom already.Naomi, I like your thoughts on this. Goals have to be functional but not necessarily academic. I like how you broke it down by types of skills. I was reminded of my kiddos who are in the Communications Classroom who are working on daily living skills such as brushing teeth and making food. These are not necessarily “academic” but very much needed for healthy living. Thank you for your thoughtful responses.
ChristineIn your own words, consider whether there is always a distinction between functional and academic goals. Does an IEP goal need to be one or the other, or both? Provide at least one real or hypothetical example to bolster your argument.
A goal must be functional given the IDEA law. However, goals within the academic setting can also be academic. I believe that when in school, learning new skills becomes part of a student’s new routine. Because we make goals functional within their routines, having academic goals makes sense. For a younger child, an academic goal might be as simple as learning the new expectations and routines in a classroom setting. Once older, new goals might revolve around more curriculum type needs such as reading, writing and math, social/coping skills and self management skills.Here is an example of a goal that is both academic and functional that works for a child who is older. This child is struggling with expanding utterances and using more expressive language. In the classroom they are working on identifying nouns, verbs and adjectives for descriptive writing assignments. This goal would support the teacher in her writing assignment, allow for greater social interactions through a greater access to expression as well as learning how to follow classroom expectations by learning common adjectives within teacher directives.: “Suzie will tell a friend five different sentences describing a story using a descriptive word after hearing part of the story with adult support.” Other goals surrounding this one might include writing the sentence, picking one descriptive word out of a group of five that matches the story read, retelling the story using descriptor words or retelling the story to a friend once it is told using a new descriptive word to make it funny. There are a lot of directions this one can go depending on interests and skill level.
Lynn,
I agree that without knowing a child’s present levels that it is hard to know what is a disability versus common expectations. I also had a hard time with reading the goal as there is a lot of different areas covered within this one goal. I was thinking it was several goals meshed together. I’m glad I wasn’t the only one scratching my head.“During a variety of daily activities, (insert child’s name) will correctly pair a label/name, a symbol, and/or an action of one object, person, and/or event to another. The child will correctly pair five different labels, symbols, or actions each day for two consecutive weeks. For example, the child will correctly pair number tags with corresponding objects by counting, child will select a buddy to read with when directed to “find a friend”, child will pair matching letter tags with letter sounds, child will name each animal in a story, child will give each child a napkin during snack, child will hang their backpack on a hook).”
Questions: Is this one goal? It looks like there are a couple of separate goals all in one. It looks like there is a goals about labeling an object/activity, a matching goal and a following directions goal (hanging backpack and handing out napkins). I will try to respond to this as if it were several different goals.
Filter 1: Stemming from disability versus a common expectation: I like that the goal addresses activities that happen within the classroom routine. I understand the goal for labeling with words/pictures as a goal for learning vocabulary and increasing the ability to request and interact with others. This is a pretty common communication goal in preschool and I like that it is embedded within classroom routines that happen naturally. It would fit for a kiddo who is around four who does not have access yet to a large vocabulary and needs help building words to be able to communicate his needs and wants with others. I’m not sure if pairing letter sounds with the alphabet would be something that would need to be in an IEP as it is something that naturally happens within the classroom activity and is a typical skill for kiddos to be learning in preschool. If this child is in second grade then this would be more appropriate to work on as a goal. Does this child have a hard time following directions and understanding verbal language? If so, the following directions goal would be appropriate. If not, then again, the learning a classroom routine is taught naturally within a classroom experience. Learning classmate’s names is a great idea. However, if it is the beginning of a school year, we are all learning each other’s names. I’m not sure that this stems form a disability. If this child has a hard time with learning new information and using words to communicate, this goal may be more appropriate as learning people’s names opens up doors for play and interactions. However, if it is hard for the child to remember and use names, more practice in a different type of activity may be important for building success and confidence before they are able to use the skill within the classroom routine and on the spot when asked. It is hard to tell if these goals are appropriate for this child not knowing their disability, skill level and strengths and interests.
Filter 2: What matters to this child and how does this help with access to curriculum? Learning skills within the classroom and it’s routines will help build friendships and a feeling of success within the learning environment so that is a good thing. I wonder what the child is interested in. Are they interested in following what other children are doing? Do they want to learn how to be a part of the class (put up a backpack and be successful with jobs like handing out napkins?) or is this something that the teacher/SLP would like to see. I like the labeling objects in a book as labeling is often the first step after flipping pages and looking at pages that a child starts to do when having book reading time with a parent/teacher. It allows for being a part of the group and feeling successful as well as builds vocabulary while having a joint reference photo that both people are looking at. This is a good goal as long as the child is able to sit and attend to a book and is interested in doing so.
Filter 3: Special instruction within routines: These goals work entirely in the classroom. The only thing I would question would be if it is something that a child would learn those skills just based on having natural models in the classroom or if they need extra support. I this due to a disability or a need for maturity?
Filter 4: Accessible in one year: These goals should be accessible within one year unless the severity of the child is such that learning words and directives within the classroom routines needs more support and specific practice before providing them within the every day classroom routines. I’m not sure if these goals are developmentally appropriate. The goals seemed to fit preschool or kindergarten level skills and if that is the case, most of those goals are ones that all children are learning at this time except for maybe learning how to label objects if they have limited word/picture usage.
Hello Jesse,
I like your statement about Mark’s PLEP saying “How is this impacting his ability to engage in appropriate activities.” It got me thinking about teaming and sharing information so that it relates to the bigger picture of what a child can do within the classroom as well as how these specific activities help a child engage in learning.
Christine
